Rockin' Republican Runs for President

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN KASICH was eating breakfast in New Hampshire last week when a graying man in his 60s approached him to offer his support.

"Where are you from?" inquired Kasich, an Ohio Republican and the latest entrant in the 2000 presidential campaign.

"Seattle," the man replied.

"Seattle?" Kasich inquired, perking up. "Do you like grunge?"

It may surprise people to learn that by far the hippest candidate on the year 2000 presidential campaign trail is a Republican.

Al Gore may be on the cutting edge of technology issues, and Bill Bradley may have the best jump shot, but no one ever accused either of being cool.

That mantle belongs to Kasich, who is partial to tax cuts, small government, the Rolling Stones and the Foo Fighters (whose songs include "I don't want to be your monkey wrench").

Known for his irrepressible energy, conservative philosophy and boyish haircut, the 46-year-old Kasich (prounounced KAY-sick) is only member of Congress to be asked to leave the stage of a Grateful Dead concert, where he was trying to find his buddy Dwight Yoakum.

When Kasich toured Iowa last year to discuss the federal budget -- while at the same time boost his visibility -- he dubbed it the "Back in Black Tour," a play on the new budget surplus and the AC/DC album.

This week, after announcing his candidacy in New Hampshire, Kasich found time to converse with the local population on matters close to his heart.

"Do you like Pearl Jam," he asked a 12-year-old, expressing disappointment in the boy's taste for swing music.

"I like to have fun," he said of his seemingly quixotic pursuit of the Republican presidential nomination.

"If you don't want to have fun, go somewhere else," he told a group of potential volunteers. "Go work for one of those other fuddy- duddies, because we may have to go get a beer every once in awhile."

The other fuddy duddies -- especially George W. Bush and Elizabeth Dole -- are certainly in better position to capture the nomination. The last sitting House member to be elected president was James Garfield, a fellow Ohioan who was elected in 1880.

Kasich, a 16-year veteran of Congress and chairman of the House Budget Committee, is well known on Capitol Hill, and in his home district which includes Columbus, Ohio. Beyond that, he is about as well known as the Foo Fighters are to anyone over 30.

"Don't underestimate me," Kasich said in a television interview this week. "The polls, right now, are nothing more than a reflection of nothing more than name ID, you know, Pepsi and Coke. But when the people up here get a taste of Jolt, which is what John Kasich will give them, . . ."

Kasich will take his show to California next month.

"I want to compete in California because I love California," Kasich said recently. "It's the cutting edge of American culture. I just feel California in my bones. I love to be on the cutting edge. I'm a cutting-edge kind of guy."